Rochdale Labour says brick thrown at candidate’s home with ‘f*** Labour’ note

The Labour leader of Rochdale council is urging other local political leaders to join him in calling for a “more civilised” local election campaign – after a brick with a “f*** Labour” note was allegedly thrown at the window of a Labour candidate’s home.

In an email to another party’s local leader, Labour’s Neil Emmott claimed that one of his fellow candidate’s homes had been “attacked”, and called on local politicians “to join with me in publicly condemning it”.

The email continued: “I won’t name our candidate, suffice to say it was a terrifying experiencing [sic] and the matter has been reported to Greater Manchester Police.

“A brick was thrown at the window of his home, wrapped in a note reading ‘F*** Labour’. Mercifully, the window did not break as beneath it were…sleeping children. Please excuse me for repeating the F word in my correspondence, but it was the actual word used in the attack.”

Emmott suggested in his email to Andy Kelly, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, that all local party leaders “publicly call for a more civilised election campaign than we have experienced so far” in a “spirt of putting Rochdale before party interest”.

In a message addressed to new Rochdale’s new MP and Workers Party of Great Britain leader George Galloway, Emmott said he was urging every local leader to “join with me in sending an unequivocal message to their supporters” to avoid “intimidatory tactics from any quarter”.

Kelly said in a statement the Liberal Democrats “utterly condemn this act of violence and intimidation”, adding: “Candidates, councillors and their families have the right to safety and dignity at all times. Having a different political view is no excuse for violence and bullying – ever.

“Campaigns should be fought on belief, principles and track records – not on intimidation and threat. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to the individual and their family and hope they are not deterred in their election.”

A spokesperson for Galloway said: “Obviously it goes without saying that any violence or intimidation in our politics is utterly unacceptable, and we would urge anyone who has been a victim of any crime to report this to the police.”

But they said they had not received the “supposed letter” to Galloway, only hearing about it through the media.

“If Mr Emmott wants to write to us by email or letter, we of course will engage in good faith. Whilst it goes without saying that this incident is condemnable and must be condemned in the strongest of terms, it’s unfortunate Labour are seemingly playing political games with what is a very serious issue.”

A Labour source said the letter had been posted to Galloway’s parliamentary office.

Local senior Conservatives were also approached for comment.

Read more of our coverage of the 2024 local elections here.

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